1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus provided with a wiper member for making recovery of an ink ejecting condition of ink, and more particularly to an ink jet recording apparatus comprising a wiper member having a function of removing the ink having gathered in a lower end portion of an ink jet head.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, ink jet recording apparatuses are provided with a wiper mechanism for wiping ink from nozzle faces of an ink jet head. In ink jet heads, there is a case that repeats of ink ejection from nozzles result in the accumulation of surplus ink on the nozzle faces, thereby causing deterioration in the ink ejection. The wiper mechanism is therefore arranged to remove the surplus ink in order to recover the ink ejecting condition. Specifically, a flexible wiper member is disposed between a home position of a carriage on which the ink jet head is mounted and a recording area, so as to be able to protrude toward and separate from moving faces of the nozzles. When the carriage is moved from the home position toward the recording area, the wiper member is made to protrude toward the nozzle faces to wipe them so that a recording operation is conducted under a fine ink ejecting condition.
In the inside of the ink jet head, there may also occur deterioration of ink such as the generation of air bubbles and variation in ink viscosity, or the occurrence of solidified ink. Common ink jet recording apparatuses are accordingly provided with a purge mechanism for sucking-removing the deteriorated ink, separately from the wiper mechanism. This purge mechanism generally is for sucking ink staying in the ink jet head by a pump by covering the nozzle faces of the ink jet head. Due to the purging operation, a part of ink sucked from the inside of the ink jet head is allowed to remain in the nozzle faces, resulting in surplus ink. A wiping operation is therefore needed prior to the start of the next recording operation after completion of the purge operation.
In the conventional ink jet recording apparatuses, however, the wiper member wipes only the nozzle faces of the ink jet head, whereas the surplus ink may be collected in not only the nozzle faces but also other portions. Specifically, there is a case of an ink jet head recording apparatus wherein an ink jet head is disposed obliquely above a recording sheet at a recording position. In this apparatus, a lower front portion of the ink jet head (the front portion indicates herein a near side to the recording sheet) is arranged at the lowest position of the ink jet head, so that the surplus ink is allowed to move toward that portion under the influence of gravity. Since the lower front portion is not wiped by the wiping mechanism, the surplus ink is left collected therein. As this state is, the next recording operation is made to start. In particular, when the purging operation is repeated for plural times, the surplus ink collected therein comes to considerable quantity and thus often drips from the ink jet head during a recording operation to form spots on a recording sheet and each component of the apparatus.